Come and knock on our door: GOP lawmakers get visits from Cothren investigator

Posted on by Andy Sher

In recent days, some Southeast Tennessee GOP lawmakers have been startled to find a private investigator knocking on their doors. Hired by the legal team of Cade Cothren, a former state House chief of staff, the investigator asked about their use in the past of taxpayer-funded correspondence and campaign services provided by then-Rep. Robin Smith.

Smith, a former state Republican Party chair, resigned from her House seat in 2022 after pleading guilty to a federal public corruption charge involving a kickback scheme that allegedly included Cothren and former state House Speaker Glen Casada, R-Franklin. 

Prosecutors say the trio used a political consulting firm, Phoenix Solutions, to illegally funnel money to themselves through both campaign and taxpayer-funded work, while keeping their involvement secret.

One lawmaker speaking on condition his name not be used, said the investigator came to his Southeast Tennessee home unannounced.

 “The whole idea was to catch whomever she could catch and say something they could use at trial. That’s my opinion,” the lawmaker said. “She said I’m working with so-and-so attorney and they represent Cade Cothren. I said, yeah, I know who he is.” 

The lawmaker said the investigator asked if he ever had any interaction with Cothren to which he said he replied, “not really, just in passing.”

Questioning then “turned and she started asking me just all kinds of questions about Robin Smith,” he said. “And I’m like, hmm, they’re trying to build a case and just pin this whole thing on Robin Smith because she’s turned state’s evidence. I said, well, I used her as a vendor one time, but I’ve used several vendors in my time.”

He said he was asked who paid the bill for work done for him. 

“I said what do you mean who paid the bill? She said when you did business, what kind of business, I said she did some printing and mailing for me. I said it’s a very common practice. She said who sent it, where did the invoice go. I said it came to me.

“She said: ‘Oh it didn’t go to your caucus? I said: ‘Why would it go to the caucus? It’s my campaign.”

Another lawmaker related a similar interaction with the investigator in which there were questions about not only the House but the Senate. He said it came off as a “search-and-destroy” effort.

“They want to show that this is a normal process and other people are just as guilty and they’re picking on [Cothren], that’s my guess,” he said. “That’s the way the questions were.”

Casada resigned from the speakership in 2019 following a racist and sexist text messaging scandal with Cothren and amid member discord over heavy-handed leadership tactics.

The trial is scheduled for Nov. 6. 

Previous investigator fired

A private investigator working for Cothren was fired last year for sending what a prosecutor called “threatening” emails to potential witnesses. Cothren’s attorney, Cynthia Sherwood, said in a court hearing in May 2023 that when the emails came to her attention, she fired the investigator within five minutes.

Sherwood described the investigator’s emails as more “unprofessional” than threatening, likening them to the style of an investigative journalist. While Sherwood stressed she didn’t stand behind the tone of the missives, she said the investigator was trying to raise “legitimate questions” about Casada’s successor — current House Speaker Cameron Sexton — including about alleged marital infidelity and whether Cothren had been “instrumental” in his rise to power.

Sherwood said the questions about Sexton are relevant because one of the government’s central theories is that Cothren engaged in the scheme to hide his involvement in Phoenix Solutions because House members wouldn’t want to do business with him due to his “behavior” when he was chief of staff. 

Cellphone fight

Smith is engaged in a legal fight with Casada and Cothren over cellphone data prosecutors inadvertently handed over as part of the discovery process. After investigators seized the mobile phone, they failed to apply filtering software to remove privileged correspondence between the former lawmaker and her attorneys before handing the information over to the defense team. 

When the mistake was discovered, prosecutors told Casada and Cothren attorneys to return the materials, but they refused. Smith argues in court filings that she never waived her attorney-client privilege. U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson has yet to rule on the matter. 

Judges: Gerrymander case failed to prove racial motivations decided Tennessee maps

Posted on by Erik Schelzig

A panel of three federal judges dismissed a gerrymandering lawsuit filed by the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP and others on the basis that they failed to “plausibly plead that race predominated in the redistricting.”

“The complainant alleges facts that are consistent with a racial gerrymander,” the ruling said. “But the facts are also consistent with a political gerrymander.”

The judicial panel consisted of Eric Murphy of 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Benita Pearson of the Northern District of Ohio and Eli Richardson of the Middle District of Tennessee. Oral arguments over the motions to dismiss the case were held in Columbus, Ohio, in May. 

The complaint alleged that racial factors had predominated in Republican state lawmakers’ moves to redraw congressional districts in and around Nashville and a state Senate seat in Shelby County.

Under the old maps, the 5th Congressional District in Nashville had a Black and Hispanic voting age population of about 30%. When the General Assembly in 2022 split the city into three districts, the minority ratio dropped to 20% in the new 5h District, while it grew from 9% to 15% in the 6th District and from 14% to 22% in the 7th District.

The plaintiffs made a similar argument about state Senate District 31 in Shelby County, where the white voting age population increased from 58% to 70%. The district is currently represented by Republican Sen. Brent Taylor.

The plaintiffs noted that the “candidates of choice” for minority voters subsequently lost their campaigns in each of the newly drawn districts. 

Given Supreme Court rulings that have identified a “strong correlation” between race and politics, the opinion said, “a district that appeared to be drawn on racial lines instead might have been drawn to further a political objective.”

“The complaint must do more than plausibly allege that Tennessee’s legislators knew that their

Republican-friendly map would harm voters who preferred Democratic candidates — including the higher percentage of minority voters who preferred those candidates,” the ruling said.

The state was represented by four lawyers in Attorney General Jonathan Skremetti’s office and outside attorney Adam Mortara.

The ruling didn’t leave the state unscathed. The judges found the government had cited outside sources like recorded legislative hearings, news articles and a census official’s memo in its motion to dismiss, arguing the court could take “judicial notice” of them. 

“We are not so sure,” the judges said. “But rather than enter the debate, we will simply disregard the materials.”

Srkmetti’s office also criticized the challengers for failing to submit an alternative map that might have shown how political goals could have been achieved with less of a racial impact. The judges said the plaintiffs did not have to come up with an alternative plan.

The panel also rejected the state’s arguments that the plaintiffs waited too long to file their case — a frequent tactic by Skermetti’s office in defending state laws. The judges noted the challengers had disavowed any plan to seek relief before this year’s election, meaning there would be no undue burden on state officials.

The court dismissed Gov. Bill Lee as a defendant, noting that the law gives his office no “enforcement authority” to carry out elections under the redistricting plan. That power rests with the state election coordinator in the office of the secretary of state, who is appointed by the General Assembly. 

“The Challengers conflate the governor’s (non-mandatory) act of signing legislation into law with the governor’s duty (such as it is) to generally see to the enforcement of the law once passed,” the ruling said.

The dismissal was without prejudice, with the ruling saying it could be refiled if complainants can “plausibly disentangle race from politics.” The judges gave the plaintiffs 30 days to file an amended complaint.

They Said It (08.22.24)

Posted on by David Jacobs

“I believe this is the only part of the state that hasn’t been drawn into my district over the past three years. Better watch out, Clay [Higgins].” —Congresswoman Julia Letlow on southwest Louisiana at the annual LegisGator event in Lake Charles

“Garret [Graves] didn’t really have a plane to catch. He just thought it was risky to sit next to the insurance commissioner.” —Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple at LegisGator

“We never get tired of winning.” —Attorney General Liz Murrill regarding an injunction on the Biden administration’s LNG export pause, at LegisGator

“My grandfather taught me ‘if you didn’t grow it, catch it, or kill it, then you didn’t eat it.” —Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto in a taxpayer-funded speech to the National Rifle Association, reported by the Illuminator

“Because we’ve had definitive answers previously, and they were all definitively wrong.” —Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Joe Donahue on his insistence that officials not give a completion date for the long-delayed Comite River Diversion Canal, in The Advocate

“I have served 29 years as a judge. I’ve earned it.” —James Genovese, on accepting a stipend for judges right as he was leaving the Louisiana Supreme Court to become the new president of Northwestern State University, in the Illuminator

Our History: The Acadian expulsion

Posted on by David Jacobs

The first wave of the expulsion that eventually brought the Acadians to Louisiana began in August of 1755. 

The Acadians at that point had lived in Nova Scotia (in present-day Canada) since the founding of Port-Royal, one of the first French settlements in North America, in 1605. Among the “first families” of Acadia were Doucet, Bourgeois, Boudrot (Boudreaux), Terriault (Thériot), Richard, LeBlanc, Thibodeaux, Comeau(x), Cormier, Hébert, Brault (Breaux), Granger, and Girouard. 

They were largely ignored by France and initially by England after control of their land shifted to the latter after 1713. But as tensions rose between the two powers,  the British authorities pressed the Acadians to swear, if not allegiance, at least neutrality in any conflict. 

After Fort Beauséjour fell to the British in June 1755, British Governor Charles Lawrence noted some 270 Acadian militia among the fort’s inhabitants. Lawrence pressed the Acadians to take an unqualified oath of allegiance to Britain. When they refused, he imprisoned them and gave the order for deportation.

“It was a New Englander, Charles Morris, who devised the plan to surround the Acadian churches on a Sunday morning, capture as many men as possible, breach the dykes and burn the houses and crops,” according to this account. “When the men refused to go, the soldiers threatened their families with bayonets. They went reluctantly, praying, singing and crying.”

About half the Acadian population died during the expulsion, according to some estimates. After years of wandering, about 2,600 to 3,000 Acadians sailed to Louisiana between 1764 and 1785. 

Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, wanted the Acadians as a counter-influence to the nearby British. Many were attracted to the area by the familiarity of the language and remained to develop the culture now known as “Cajun.” 

However, their dialect was different from that of French who were already there, and the destitute Acadians found themselves on the bottom rung of white society. The widespread poverty that followed the Civil War eroded some of those distinctions. 

The Cajuns remained largely un-Americanized, according to historian Shane Bernard, until U.S. involvement in World War II. 

“The war experience coupled with educational and housing programs offered to returning veterans opened up a vast new world of opportunities…to leave the farm, go to college, get a good job, earn a decent wage, build a nice house,” Bernard says. “This caused a gradual migration away from small, exclusively French-speaking communities into a more modern, mainstream world.”

Editor’s note: Information for this piece came from The Canadian Encyclopedia and LSU Health’s Department of Genetics. 

News You Can Use (08.22.24)

Posted on by David Jacobs

—Campaigns & Elections: Why the congressional battleground map needs to expand

—Campaigns & Elections: Consultants speak out about mental health challenges

—Governing: The making of a straight-ticket society

—Governing: A simple way state and local governments can save more lives

—OpenSecrets: Outside spending in 2024 federal election tops $1 billion 

—The Advocate: Baton Rouge appellate judge set to become Louisiana Supreme Court justice in Black district

—Illuminator: Benched Baton Rouge judge accepted $14,000 stipend just before investigation

—The Advocate: Treasurer rejects bank for common ESG policy

—Red River Radio: Louisiana public school enrollment drops to lowest level in 16 years

—The Advocate: Louisiana will pay this company up to $11M to run its new private-school tuition program

—The Advocate: Gov. Jeff Landry promises Bossier City audience to keep up pace of reforms

—Lafourche Gazette: Kristine Russell Elected President of Louisiana District Attorney’s Association 

—Shreveport Times: Louisiana leaders believe Super Bowl can be Louisiana’s Olympic moment in 2025

—WWL: Independent expert to be hired in New Orleans archdiocese’s long, expensive bankruptcy case

—Illuminator: Who is Kaitlyn Joshua, the Louisiana woman who spoke at the Democratic National Convention?

—The Advocate: Did Jimmie Davis’ horse, Sunshine, climb up and down the Capitol stairs?

Field Notes (08.22.24)

Posted on by David Jacobs

— ON TO SCOTUS? The Louisiana Supreme Court seemingly ended the race for its new majority-minority seat almost before it began, ruling that First Circuit Court of Appeal judge John Michael Guidry is the only eligible candidate. Judge Marcus Hunter and Louisiana Housing Corporation Chief of Staff Leslie Chambers were both kicked off the ballot for failing to file their income taxes in time, as state law requires. Chambers, at least, is weighing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Hunter’s campaign did not respond to an email seeking comment. 

— WHAT ABOUT THE BALLOT? Secretary of State Nancy Landry has consistently said that Friday is her office’s deadline to get an item onto the November ballot, a timeline that could be complicated by further appeals by Chambers and/or Hunter. Joel Watson with Landry’s office declined to comment on that subject, citing the potential for ongoing litigation. 

— LMTA RECOGNIZES ‘ROAD WARRIORS’: The Louisiana Motor Transport Association presented its Road Warrior Awards to Rep. Michael Melerine and Sen. Alan Seabaugh on Monday in Shreveport. Renee Amar, the LMTA’s executive director, said the lawmakers “worked tirelessly this year to help level the playing field for truckers in the legal arena.”

— COASTAL CONFERENCE RETURNS TO NOLA: The State of the Coast conference will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans from May 20 to 22, 2025. The conference is meant “to provide an interdisciplinary forum to exchange timely and relevant information on the dynamic conditions of Louisiana’s coastal communities, environment and economy and to apply that information to existing and future coastal restoration and protection efforts, policies and decision-making.” Presenters, sponsors and exhibitors interested in participating can apply on the conference’s website.

LaPolitics Q&A: Rep. Kyle Green

Posted on by David Jacobs

LaPolitics: Conventions used to pick the candidates, but that’s not the case anymore. Why is the national convention still important? 

Rep. Kyle Green, a delegate to this week’s Democratic National Convention: National conventions are essential because they allow the parties to showcase their nominee for the presidency and that nominee’s vision for America over the next four years.

Did you have any qualms about changing the top of the Democratic ticket after the primaries? Why or why not?

I do not. When President Joe Biden decided not to accept the nomination, the party conducted an open and transparent nominating process, allowing anyone to compete for the open nomination. At the close of that nominating period, Vice President Kamala Harris was the overwhelming choice of the elected delegates to the convention. Thus, she is our Democratic Party nominee for the presidency of the United States of America.

What are you personally looking forward to the most about the convention?

I am most looking forward to the Democratic Party and our ticket offering a stark contrast to what the GOP and their ticket have been offering to the American people over the last couple of weeks: one that is hopeful, optimistic, inclusive, supportive of a women’s reproductive rights, and will provide policies that will grow and strengthen the middle class—the backbone of our economy.

While Harris/Walz almost certainly will not win Louisiana, do you think the ticket will benefit Democrats down the ballot? If so, how so? 

Absolutely! With essentially a three-vote majority in this Congress and Democrats poised to pick up at least two seats in the next Congress due to redistricting successes in Louisiana and Alabama, I believe if all things stay the same, control of the House of Representatives will flip to the Democratic Party. This surge of support was mainly due to the increased enthusiasm exhibited by voters when Vice President Harris assumed the top ticket position. However, control of the Senate may be a little more precarious because the Senate Democrats are in more of a defensive position, but in the Montana, Ohio, and Nevada senate contests, whichever party can turn out their voters will likely be successful on Election Day. 

Can Louisiana Democrats capitalize on the recent burst of excitement to begin rebuilding the party? How so? 

It will take time, but I believe we can. Out of 144 seats, only one seat is left in the Louisiana Legislature that could flip to the majority party. So, there is only room for the Democratic Party to grow. That being said, now that the GOP has a supermajority in both chambers and control of the Executive Branch, they now have a responsibility to govern. As a result of this new responsibility, they will own all of their successes, but also any failures. And if the Democratic Party can put forth credible, electable candidates, offering kitchen-table policy solutions, I believe we can also be competitive on Election Day.  

Editor’s note: This Q&A was conducted before the convention and has been lightly edited for style.

Turnover, conspiracy theories complicate Louisiana elections

Posted on by David Jacobs

Ten brand-new clerks of court took office in Louisiana this year, which follows the 11 who stepped down four years ago, said Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court Louis Perret, who is president of the state association. 

So if you’re doing the math, roughly a third of the state’s clerks were replaced over two election cycles. Only two were defeated at the polls, Perret said, meaning the rest left voluntarily.  

Not all of that turnover can be chalked up to controversy over alleged election shenanigans, but it’s certainly a factor. 

“With the increased scrutiny and the completely false allegations of corruption and rigged elections, it has driven some people away,” he said. 

Louisiana is far from alone in this regard. A recent study by the Bipartisan Policy Center found that turnover among local elections officials nationwide has grown from 28 percent in 2004 to 39 percent in 2022, a 38 percent increase.

The study’s authors cited “increased hostility” toward election officials as a possible factor driving the increase, along with the increasing complexity of the role (due to technological, legislative, and societal changes) and an aging workforce. 

LaPolitics reached Perret while he was in Baton Rouge at a continuing education event for clerks. He said much of the conversation among his colleagues was about how hard it is to recruit commissioners to help out with elections. 

“The older ones don’t want to fool with being intimidated or threatened anymore,” Perret said. 

As you would expect, the shortage is most pronounced in rural, sparsely populated areas. Perret has a large enough staff that he can have some do double duty as commissioners, but that’s not ideal either, as they have their own jobs to do. 

In contrast to the clerks, there hasn’t been much turnover among the state’s registrars outside of a few retirements, said East Baton Rouge Registrar of Voters Steve Raborn, who is board president for his state association. His office is staffed to oversee early voting and doesn’t need to bring in Election Day reinforcements, as clerks do. Registrars are appointed by parish governments, not elected. 

When it comes to election administration, Louisiana is a top-down state, as opposed to others where more authority resides at the county level. Of course, Louisiana recently had turnover at the top, but Secretary of State Nancy Landry was first assistant under her predecessor, Kyle Ardoin, so she’s hardly a newbie. 

Ardoin had a complicated relationship with election conspiracy theorists. At times, he tried to placate them, allowing MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to expound at length during a Voting System Commission meeting. 

But the attacks appeared to take an emotional toll on Ardoin, and in announcing his decision not to run for reelection, he cited “pervasive lies that have eroded trust in our elections by using conspiracies so far-fetched that they belong in a work of fiction.”

Landry has drawn criticism for supporting new elections regulations despite the absence of significant fraud. Landry told LaPolitics (Issue 1418) that the changes were driven by “anecdotal evidence we heard” or “investigations that we had,” citing her campaign promise to make Louisiana No. 1 for election integrity. 

Joel Watson with the Secretary of State’s office said officials are trying to recruit more young poll workers to reinforce and replace the older veterans. Once people see the process up close, they tend to come away more confident in the system, he said. 

Watson said several people have called him at the office to check out various stories that they’ve heard about Louisiana’s elections.

“When they find out the facts, they always end the call by saying, ‘I’m a lot more confident now that I’ve spoken with you,’” he said. 

Perret has had similar experiences, but he has also encountered people who are determined to believe the conspiracy theories. He challenges skeptics to get involved as a paid poll worker, to see how it works for themselves. 

“We need the public’s participation,” he said. “Please jump in and help us.” 

TWICE AS NICE

Posted on by Jeremy Alford

As their national Convention enters the final stretch, Louisiana Democrats are preparing to double their footprint in the Bayou State delegation & the Congressional Black Caucus

CHICAGO — Before heading to the floor during the first few days of this Democratic Convention, state Sens. Gary Carter and Ed Price would often have lunch together in their hotel. They shared stories about family and golf and the politics of the upper chamber in Baton Rouge when not networking or catching up with familiar faces.

Carter, a delegate, and Price, a credentialed guest of the state party, have unique perspectives on the transition Democrats are facing in Louisiana. If all goes as expected this cycle, the next term will host a second Louisiana Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, due to redistricting. The change in the 6th Congressional District, anchored by Baton Rouge, would also likely give the state its second membership in the Congressional Black Caucus.

State Sen. Ed Price meets with Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo: Ed Price)

Price has been an elected official for more than 40 years, kicking off his service roughly a decade before William Jefferson was elected in 1990 as the first Black congressman since Reconstruction. During that stretch of time, Louisiana had eight seats in the House. Price and other politicos could only watch in the following years as seats disappeared alongside population, until the 2010 Census left the congressional delegation with just six members.

In 2016, Carter was elected for the first time to the state Legislature. He had an enviable viewpoint to watch his uncle, Congressman Troy Carter of New Orleans, make his way from the state Senate to the 2nd Congressional District in 2021. Since then, Troy Carter has been Louisiana’s lone Black voice (and lone Democratic voice) in the delegation. Today, he’s also second vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Among many others, consultant Telley Madina of New Orleans, the president of Madina Group Consulting, visited with Price and Gary Carter as delegates and others readied themselves for the Convention floor this week. In a later interview, Madina explained that for decades the delegation’s lone Black member has been the only place some Black residents feel they can turn, regardless of their congressional district.

Adding a second member would help spread out the workload, Madina said, but it could also inspire more young people from communities of color to get involved in politics as Democratic professionals. More representation means more opportunities.

Congressman Troy Carter and state Sen. Gary Carter at the Louisiana Capitol. (Photo: Gary Carter)

New Orleans consultant Ike Spears agreed when asked about the coming shift, saying, “You immediately double the number of congressmen who are fighting for the underserved communities in Louisiana.”

Senate and Governmental Affairs Chair Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge, the heavy favorite in the redrawn 6th Congressional District, said it’s simply time that a third of the delegation reflects the proportion of minority voters in the state. 

“I think that’s going to be good for the delegation, because you’re going to have all voices from Louisiana being represented,” said Fields, a former member of Congress. “So when the six of us take positions, it’s going to be representative of the people we represent.” 

Former state Sen. Elbert Guillory, a Black Republican and the officially endorsed GOP candidate in the 6th, said if he’s elected he would seek membership in the Congressional Black Caucus. (Those dynamics wouldn’t be new. Black Republicans claim they have a fraught history with the Congressional Black Caucus, with some claiming the Caucus ostracized them and others pointedly refusing to join.)

“The people of CD6 should have a voice at every table of power. Obviously, we disagree on many policy issues. I intend to disagree agreeably to make our voice heard at that table,” Guillory said, adding, “Minority voters will see that not all Republicans have tails. Not all Republicans have horns.”

Aside from voting power and increased opportunities for political professionals, an additional Black congressman could help reshape the public dialogue about traditional issues of interest that have suffered from not having louder voices involved, suggested state Rep. Edmond Jordan, who chairs the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. 

“Issues related to poverty, education, health care and economic prosperity, to name a few, cross racial lines,” said Jordan, “but these are issues that Black Americans have championed for quite some time.”

The politics of the moment are unmissable in Chicago as the Democratic National Convention continues to pull in staffers from the Fields campaign and serve as a gathering grounds for those who stand to benefit from the shift. Today may be the final day of the Convention, but for those taking part in this conversation, today is just the beginning.

State Sen. Cleo Fields campaigning in Baton Rouge last week. (Photo: Fields campaign)

Consider again opportunities for political professionals. Albert Samuels, who chairs the political science department at Southern University, wisely noted the related jobs may extend well beyond this congressional cycle — should Fields secure his victory.

That in turn would create an opening in the state Senate. The resulting special election would likely attract multiple Black Democrats, including one or two currently serving in the state House. Should a representative win that Senate seat, yet another special election would be needed in the House. (If just by chance a member of the Baton Rouge Metro Council takes that hypothetically-open House seat, the pattern would continue.)

Plus, a Fields victory would give Democrats a seat in the U.S. House they were not anticipating prior to the last Census. To be certain, Republicans are favored to hold the chamber, but it could always come down to the wire. And as the only House seat that at least one major prognosticator considers a safe Democratic flip, the 6th could be important to the overall math. 

That math is the math. That mantra was heard over and over as lawmakers debated the need to make one-third of Louisiana’s congressional delegation match its population mix. It’s still the mantra as that wish becomes a reality. For Democrats, two is always better than one in political math, whether it means Fields joining Troy Carter in Congress or Price meeting Gary Carter for lunch.

Possibly, that’s the message emerging from the Democratic National Convention today: there’s always strength in numbers.

Author’s note: The third paragraph of this story has been revised to reflect the correct election date of former New Orleans Congressman William Jefferson.

Kansas Daily News Wire August 22, 2024

Posted on by State Affairs

Welcome to the Kansas Daily News Wire, your daily roundup of top state and political stories from newsrooms across Kansas. — Hawver’s Capitol Report/State Affairs

STATE

Kelly: Kansas set the tone for other states’ reproductive rights battle: With the 2022 abortion referendum, Kansas “set the stage” for other states in their fight for reproductive rights, Gov. Laura Kelly told an audience Wednesday during a panel at the Democratic National Convention. (Richardson, State Affairs)

Michelin layoffs will impact Emporia plant: Workers at the Michelin plant in Emporia will experience layoffs in the near future, according to local reporting. (KSNT)

 ‘Time is of the essence’: Legislative Coordinating Council seeks to greenlight bid process for expanded bill tracking: The Legislative Coordinating Council’s quest to secure enhanced bill tracking services is proceeding full-steam ahead, albeit on a condensed timeline. (Resnick, State Affairs)

University of Kansas Health System ranked best employer in Kansas according to Forbes: Forbes unveiled its ‘Best Employers by State’ list and a staple of the Kansas health system finds itself at the top of the state’s list. (KCTV5)

‘Meaningful progress’ made on Quivira water issue, so no Fish & Wildlife order in 2025: Kansas has made “meaningful progress” on water conservation near the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service won’t bring any administrative orders in 2025. (Stover, State Affairs)

LOCAL

Build Kansas committee approves 3 projects: The Build Kansas Advisory Committee gave a green light to three projects Wednesday, adding to the 60 it has approved since October 2023.(Stover, State Affairs)

Wichita mayor, council clash over property taxes, budget cuts: Wichita’s City Council has adopted a $761 million budget for 2025 — a nearly 27% increase from pre-pandemic levels — with one dissenting vote from Mayor Lily Wu. (The Wichita Eagle)

Kansas community colleges say more students are living on-campus this fall: Community colleges across Kansas are reporting an increase in students living on campus as classes resume for the fall semester. (Kansas News Service)

Biden approves Kansas disaster declaration for storm in May: On Wednesday, President Joe Biden. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of Kansas and ordered Federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by a severe storm, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding on May 19, 2024, according to a statement from the White House. (Hays Post)

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